Loose Ends
by tintinnabulation
Summary: COMPLETE This is how I think some loose ends were tied up. What happened to Susan? Who's got the magic rings? This is my first fanfic, so honest reviews are very appreciated.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: Nothing in this story belongs to me. If Narnia belongs to you, please don't sue me. It's a harmless piece of fanfiction, and I'm just having fun. If nothing here belongs to you either, then go ahead and read it, but don't be too critical. It's my first fanfiction, and I don't have a muse or a beta-reader.

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Susan re-folded the letter mechanically. Surely, it couldn't be true. Everyone was dead? In one train wreck? Peter, Edmund, Lucy, her mother and father, and even her cousin Eustace? She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it.

It was true. Susan went to stay with Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta for a while. She signed for a box of things salvaged from the wrecked train, went to the funeral, and chose headstones. She still couldn't believe it. She was numb.

After a while, she opened the box. It contained, among other things, three watches, a necklace Susan had given Lucy for a birthday, and a small box that had been found in Peter's pocket. Susan opened the little box. There were four rings inside. Two were yellow, two were green, and all were very shiny. She almost imagined she heard a humming noise. Susan thought she had heard something about magic rings from Professor Kirke (also killed in the train wreck) when she was a child, and these made her feel uneasy. She closed the little box, taped it shut, and hid it.

Life went on. Susan forgot about the rings, like she had forgotten about Narnia. She moved to America, which she had once visited with her parents, married, had children, and eventually grandchildren. If, once in a long while, she thought about Narnia, the strange, bright rings still hidden in her closet, or even lions, she told herself to "be sensible" and pushed it to the back of her memory again.

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This will be a Susan-gets-to-Narnia story. The other chapters will, of course, be longer. This one is only an introduction.


	2. The Magic Rings

Disclaimer: Susan, Narnia, etc. do not belong to me. I do not know who they do belong to now (C.S. Lewis being dead), but that is not a good reason to sue me.

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Susan woke up from an afternoon nap with a dreadful feeling she'd forgotten something. That was becoming more and more common as she grew older, but this time it was different, worse. She didn't feel as if she'd forgotten to buy milk, but as if she'd forgotten her own name. She sat up and tried vainly to remember.

Had she fed the cat? Susan had bought a cat to keep her company after her husband died. Her children had tried to convince her to get a dog, but having a cat just felt right... Yes, she'd fed Fluffy.

Had she left the front door unlocked again? That was embarrassing. She had left the door open once last summer, and went to the store. Her neighbor had been worried when she didn't answer the door, and walked right into the house. Of course it was the day she'd left the house cleaning for "later"... She was sure she'd locked the door.

She thought of other things she sometimes forgot. Had she invited someone over? Had she forgotten to pay a bill? A grandchild's birthday? Overdue library books? A hair-styling appointment? Nothing fit. She got out of bed and put her shoes on.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. She must have left the door open after all. "Susan," she heard, but it seemed to come from the closet. Why would anyone be in her closet? She opened the closet door and revealed...

Nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least. There were clothes on hangers, three or four pairs of shoes, and, on the top shelf, an antique jewelry box.

Susan had no particular reason to open that jewelry box. She was looking for an intruder, not a lost earring. She told herself so, but she opened it anyway. There was a lot of old jewelry in it. Thinking she'd imagined the voice, she sat down on the bed with the box.

Here was a pin Susan remembered her mother wearing. That was a long, long time ago... Here was her engagement ring... Here was the necklace she'd given Lucy. Susan remembered how she had gotten this necklace back, and a lump formed in her throat. She began to think of her little sister, and the make-believe games she never lived to outgrow. Not that she was sure to outgrow them, anyway. Old Professor Kirke and Miss Plummer had been just as bad. Old Professor Kirke? Susan herself was nearly as old now. She felt that she was about to cry, and carefully placed the necklace back in the box. There was a handkerchief in the box, wrapped around something. Susan lifted it out and unwrapped it. There was a small, nondescript box with a lot of tape on it.

Susan had no more reason to open this than the jewelry box. She had never been the most curious person, but she just had to open that box. She took a pair of nail scissors from her dresser drawer. They weren't needed. The tape was old and cracked, and it fell off almost without being touched. The lid came open.

There were the rings. They must be the rings that Professor Kirke had talked about... There was no such thing as magic. These were some kind of costume jewelry. All the ridiculous things he had told her, and Peter, Edmund, and Lucy came flooding into her memory. It was impossible, but... Surely it couldn't hurt to try?

Susan took one of the rings out of the box and held it in her palm. Nothing happened. She could not have explained exactly why she felt so disappointed. "Don't be silly," she told herself, "What did you expect to happen? It's only a ring." She wrapped the green ring in the handkerchief and put it into her pocket. Then she picked up a yellow ring.

A Girl Scout rang the doorbell, trying to sell cookies. There was no answer, because the house was empty.


	3. The Wood Between the Worlds

Disclaimer: Narnia belongs to me, and Elvis is still alive, and look! There's something on your shirt... You get my point.

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Susan was underwater. She had been a wonderful swimmer when she was young, but she didn't think she could swim far now... Thank Heavens, she wouldn't have to. She had reached the surface, and the pool was only ten feet across. Susan climbed out of the water and looked around.

As far as she could see there was nothing but grass, trees and small pools. The trees were very close together, and she couldn't see the sky. All the pools were exactly alike, but there was a strip of bare soil next to the pool Susan had just come out of. It looked as if someone had marked it, so they could find this one pool out of the dozens, maybe hundreds, of other pools.

Susan tried to remember exactly what she was doing here. It was wonderfully quiet. Maybe she could finish her afternoon nap...

She sat down with her back against a tree and shut her eyes. She didn't remember what she wanted to do, but it could wait.

Something warm and hairy brushed against her hand. She opened her eyes and looked at it. It was only a guinea pig, and it had a ring tied to it. The ring was yellow and very shiny. Susan stared at the guinea pig for a while, until she noticed that its ring was exactly like hers. Where did it get a ring like that? Where did she get a ring like that? Why was there a guinea pig here at all? She sat up straight and tried to remember. She remembered trying on the yellow ring in her bedroom and finding herself here. She remembered that Professor Kirke had told a very tall tale about magic rings. She remembered why she was here.

"Uncle Andrew's guinea pig!" Susan exclaimed, "I can't believe it's still here! Well, I must get up. How much time have I wasted?"

She stood up and walked around a bit, being careful not to stray too far from the marked pool. She came to a dip in the ground and nearly fell down. That was strange. The ground was level for as far as the eye could see, except for this little grassy hollow. Susan thought for a while, and remembered what Professor Kirke had said about Charn. Charn had been detroyed, and its pool dried up. Why, it might have been this very place. She walked back towards her own pool.

When Susan came to the pool, she saw that there was a second dry pool, just on the other side. Some other world no longer existed. Doubt crept into her mind. What if it were Narnia? What if she couldn't get back there? Hadn't she been told she wouldn't?

She could delay no longer. She took off the yellow ring and put it into her pocket. Then she found the green ring and put it on. She would search every pool if necessary.

Susan walked to the edge of the nearest pool and jumped in.

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animegirl-mika: Thanks so much for reviewing. As you can see, she went to the forest full of mini-lakes. Actually, I probably don't really need a beta-reader, but everyone needs a "source of inspiration." (I looked up "muse" in an online dictionary.) Of course, that's what you're being anyway, by reviewing.


	4. Where is Queen Susan?

Disclaimer: Narnia, Susan, and anything you recognize belong to C.S. Lewis.

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Susan found herself underneath a giant daffodil. That was strange enough, but, not only was it a twenty-foot flower, it was a twenty-foot flower with steps cut into it.

She knew this wasn't Narnia, so there was no reason to stay long. It was getting dark. She began to switch rings, but something stopped her. She heard voices.

A little girl's voice, coming from the huge blossom overhead, begged, "Please, please read us a story, Daddy! Please."

"All right, sweetheart. Gather round, children. What chapter were we on?"

"Chapter twelve, Daddy! You know that!" chorused five or six small voices.

The man's voice began to read, probably from some children's book, but Susan had stopped listening. She had decided that these people sounded normal enough, and that she would ask them where she was.

Of course, to talk to them, she had to find them. She started up the narrow, winding steps that twisted around the stem of the daffodil.

It took a good deal longer than she expected. "I'm too old for this," Susan panted, as she reached a sort of landing at the back of the blossom. There was now only a short, straight flight of stairs between her and a yellow curtain, which seemed to be where the voices were coming from. She sat down to rest.

Almost unwillingly, she began to listen to the story. Something about it had been bothering her, but she had been too busy climbing to hear any of it. What she heard now both shocked and saddened her.

" 'Sir,' said Tirian, when he had greeted all these. 'If I have read the chronicle aright, there should be another. Has not your Majesty two sisters? Where is Queen Susan?' "

Where was Queen Susan? Susan wanted to know, too. She had buried Queen Susan so deep, she was not sure she could find her again.

" 'My sister Susan,' answered Peter shortly and gravely, 'is no longer a friend of Narnia.' "

Narnia. She had forgotten Narnia, and Aslan. That's what she had been missing all these years...

" 'Yes,' said Eustace, 'and whenever you've tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says, 'What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.' ' "

Funny games? Was the Stone Table a "funny game?" Was the Battle of Beruna? Peter's duel with Miraz? How could she have said that?

" 'Oh Susan!' said Jill. 'She's interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up.' "

Nylons and lipstick. What was that in exchange for Narnia? For her relationship with her family? Susan realized that she had paid too high a price to be "grown-up."

" 'Grown-up, indeed,' said the Lady Polly. 'I wish she would grow up. She's wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can.' "

Susan was beginning to feel horribly guilty.

" 'Well, don't let's talk about that now,' said Peter. 'Look! Here are lovely fruit-trees. Let us taste them.'

"And then, for the first time, Tirian looked about him and realized how very queer this adventure was."

And Susan realized how very queer her adventure was. She was in some unknown world, where nothing should be familiar, yet here was someone reading about people she knew talking about her. She stood up and climbed the short flight of steps.

"The chapter's over, children. It's time for bed," said a woman's voice.

"Oh, Mama, can't we stay up and hear one more chapter? Please?" begged one of the children.

The man's voice laughed. "I want everyone in their hammocks by the time I'm done counting, or I won't read any more tomorrow night, either. One. Two. Three. Four..."

There was a scramble of small feet, and then the sound of ropes creaking as the children tumbled into their hammocks.

Susan looked for a place to knock. She couldn't just walk into these people's home, but neither the curtain nor the wall looked solid enough to make much sound. "Hello?" she called nervously.

The woman's voice answered her. "Come in."

Susan opened the curtain and stepped through.

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Further Disclaimer: The "bedtime story" was taken directly from chapter 12 of The Last Battle. The giant daffodil belongs to me, or rather to the people I made up.

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animegirl-mika and fledge: You can see that I've got some ideas of my own. Whether they are good or bad remains to be seen, but I think I'll use them first, since I already have most of the story planned out. Thank you both for the suggestions, anyway. Susan can't use the rings to get to Narnia, since the Narnia she is thinking about has been destroyed. (The first dry pool was Charn. The second was Narnia.)


	5. Inside the Daffodil

Disclaimer: Narnia belongs to me, honest! nose grows 3 feet I swear I'm a real boy! nose grows 3 more feet Um, a little help here? tries to lift head Please?

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Susan looked around the cosy, orange-colored room. At the edges were hung a half dozen silver hammocks, and in each hammock was a child wearing white pajamas. The children, each of whom seemed to have a different pastel tint to his skin and hair, stared back at Susan with wide, curious eyes.

Near the center of the room was a sofa, made of what seemed to be a large, stretched-out snapdragon head. Next to the sofa was a short glass bookcase, and behind it, another curtain.

"Hello, Susan," said the woman, and Susan noticed her for the first time. She was sitting on the sofa, but had been partly hidden by the curved, overhanging back. Now she stood up, and Susan could see what she looked like.

The woman was beautiful, in a strange, unearthly way. She was all green, from her jewel-green eyes, to her grass-green hair, to her pastel-green skin, and was just a little more fragile and delicate looking than the people Susan was used to. She wore a medium-length gown of some silvery material, but what took Susan's breath away was her wings. The woman had iridescent wings, like a huge butterfly, with every imaginable shade of green, as well as some that can't be imagined.

"How do you know my name?" asked Susan, who was sure she had never met anyone who looked like that.

"I was told," said the butterfly-woman.

"By who? You were expecting me, then?"

"No," said the butterfly-woman. Then she turned her head, and appeared to be listening to someone. "I see."

She turned to Susan and smiled. "You may call me Flora."

"All right. Where am I, please?" said Susan.

"You are in my home," said Flora.

"Where is your home?"

"In the daffodil."

"Where is the daffodil?"

"Right here."

"I mean, in what world?"

"You do not need to know that."

Susan was not pleased with this answer, but it seemed to be the best she would get.

"What am I doing here, then?"

"You will stay the night," said Flora.

Susan was surprised. She was not being invited, she was being informed, and she had only just met this woman! It wasn't a bad idea, though. She had had a lot more excitement today than she was used to, and was getting tired. She yawned.

"You may sleep on the sofa," said Flora, "I will see you in the morning." She disappeared through the curtain at the back of the room.

Susan lay down on the sofa and was soon asleep.

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Further Disclaimer: Flora is mine, or at least I think so. Susan is most definitely not mine.

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Lis: Thank you!

animegirl-mika: Thank you!

fledge: Thank you. You're welcome. Yes, I have wondered why there are so many more Harry Potter stories. I didn't give Susan an exact age, but I did mention her grandchildren. She's an "old lady," but that doesn't mean she can't have adventures.


	6. Once a King or Queen

Disclaimer: I'm kind of glad I don't own Narnia. If I were C.S. Lewis, I'd be dead.

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Susan woke up bright and early to find six children standing around the sofa staring at her. She ignored them and pretended to be asleep.

"No, she isn't," said one child.

"Yes, she is," insisted another.

Susan sat up and confronted them. "Yes, I am what?"

The children did not seem the least bit ashamed of being caught staring.

"Queen Susan of Narnia," said a boy the age of Susan's youngest grandchild. "You are, aren't you? Mama called you Susan, and you haven't any wings."

Susan did not answer for a while. The children kept staring, and waited for her to say something.

"I was Queen Susan of Narnia," said Susan sadly. "I am not now."

"Yes, you are," said the oldest child. She seemed to be about ten, and had skin and hair of different shades of blue. She did not have butterfly wings. Now that she thought of it, Susan noticed that none of the children had wings.

"What?"

"Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen," said the girl solemnly.

'Aslan said that,' thought Susan. 'I had forgotten.' "Thank you," she said aloud.

"You're welcome," said the girl, who seemed to know exactly what she was being thanked for. She held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Queen Susan. My name's Crystal."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Crystal," said Susan, shaking her hand. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"In our house."

"But where is that?" asked Susan.

"In the daffodil," said Crystal. This conversation was beginning to sound familiar...

"But in what world?"

"You don't need to know that," said the little girl. She must have been listening to her mother and Susan the night before.

Susan sighed and changed the subject. "Where is your mother?"

"I'll get her for you," said Crystal, and she ran around the sofa and through the curtain.

Flora came in, carrying a large pot of what looked like oatmeal. "Hurry up, dear," she called over her shoulder. A purple-colored butterfly-man entered the room and quickly set up a collapsible card table. Flora set the oatmeal on the table. "Just a moment please, Susan. Breakfast is almost ready."

Flora went back for dishes and silverware, and her husband brought out nine silver folding chairs.

"It's time for breakfast, children. Come and sit down," said Flora.

Everyone was sitting down, so Susan took a chair next to Crystal and waited. Flora sat quietly for a moment, head bowed, as did all the others, and then served each person a bowl of oatmeal.

The oatmeal was very good. It tasted of cinnamon, and of some spice Susan did not recognize. While they were eating, no one said much. When they were finished, and the children were clearing the table, Flora told Susan what she was going to do that day.

"You must see the library, Susan," said Flora. "Since you can't fly, I will have one of the children show you the way."

Ten minutes later, Susan was following Crystal down the winding stairs. It was a beautiful, sunny morning.

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Further Disclaimer: "Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen," was something Aslan said in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.


	7. The Library

Disclaimer: Susan is not mine, and Narnia is not mine (well, two copies of the books are). I think the butterfly people are mine, but there are no guarantees on it.

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Susan and Crystal were following a path through a maze of giant flowers. They could see a lot of children around, but no adults. Susan looked up and realized why.

Why would they use the path when they could fly? Susan watched the butterfly people floating through the sky above her and felt a twinge of jealousy. She used to dream she could fly. These people actually could fly, unaided, with nothing between them and the clouds.

"That is where I go to school," Crystal announced, "and the library is right above it. We're almost there."

Crystal began climbing some stairs inside a rose bush the size of a skyscraper. Susan groaned and followed, wondering why these people were so fond of steps. She was distracted enough to wonder aloud, and Crystal was happy to give her an answer.

"But we need to have steps," she explained, "or how would we children reach the flower tops? Must we stay on the ground until we grow wings?"

Susan did not think Crystal would understand that most people in her world were perfectly happy to live their whole lives on the ground, or that "He has both feet on the ground," was considered a compliment. She said nothing, and kept climbing.

The stairs zig-zagged from one rose to another, and it was a while before Crystal stopped climbing and entered one. "Come in, Queen Susan," she said, "Mama will be here soon."

The library was full of glass bookshelves and dandelion-blossom chairs. Susan sat down on one of the fluffy yellow cushions and waited.

It was not long before Flora arrived and directed Susan to a shelf at the back of the library.

"This is where we keep the histories of other worlds," said Flora. "That, for instance, is a history of Charn."

"Only one man ever tried to read it," added Crystal.

"Why only one?" asked Susan.

"Because it was so terribly violent that he stopped in the middle and needed three years of counseling. Everyone else was afraid to open it!" said Crystal.

"Why do you keep it, then?" asked Susan.

"Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, or so I have heard," said Flora. "We do not want to forget Charn and run the risk of recreating it."

Flora pointed out another book. "This is a history of Narnia," she said, "and it is nothing like that of Charn. We read it to our children."

"Do you have the histories of all the worlds here, Flora?" Susan wondered.

"No, only those worlds which have ended."

Narnia was gone, then. Susan's heart sank. She had suspected it, but had not wanted to believe it. There was nothing to do now but go home.

"I think I must go home," said Susan, "Thank you for your hospitality." She began to take out her yellow ring.

"Wait, Susan. I have permission to give you these." Flora slid seven volumes from the shelf. They had brightly colored covers, but Susan was too distracted to notice the titles.

"Thank you. And goodbye."

"Goodbye, Queen Susan," said Crystal.

With one last "Goodbye," Susan touched her yellow ring and disappeared.

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fledge: Thank you. The "butterfly people" may be subconsciously related to Tinkerbelle, but I didn't set out to make them that way. I just have always wondered what it would be like to have wings.

animegirl-mika: Thank you.

Ozma: Thank you! Thank you, also, for adding me to your favorite authors list.


	8. Home?

Disclaimer: Do you really need to be told again that Susan is not mine? If you haven't figured that out by now, you never will.

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Susan stepped out of the pool and looked around. This time she was prepared for the sudden drowsiness of the Wood between the Worlds and did not forget where she was going. She did not forget where she had been, either, and left her handkerchief, partly underneath a tree root, to mark the pool she had come out of. Just in case...

Susan would not try a different pool. Narnia was gone, and she did not want to see any other worlds. Perhaps, someday, someone else, someone younger, would come. Perhaps they would even meet the butterfly people. She put on her green ring and went to the pool she knew led home.

But was it home? Somehow, she didn't think so any longer. Home is where the heart is, and half of Susan's heart was in Narnia. She did not know where the other half was. Certainly not in the silent, empty house she had left behind in America.

Susan had a strange, fleeting desire to go back to Flora and the giant daffodil, but that would not help her. She must go back to her own world, although she did not know what she would do there. As she waded into the pool, she glanced at the books Flora had given her, which she still held clutched in one arm. 'The Chronicles of Narnia' was all she could read before she felt herself whirling downward.

Her bedroom was dark and dreary, compared to the places she had just visited. The curtains were shut, the lamp was dim, and the whole atmosphere seemed oppressive. The first thing Susan did was open the curtains. The sunlight streaming in made the room more inviting, but it did not lift her spirits.

She sat down on her bed, and, for lack of anything else to do, opened one of her books.

"This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began."

This was about Narnia. 'Why should I read about it, if I can't get there?' thought Susan. She kept reading anyway. Perhaps it would help her unexplainable feeling of homesickness.

Susan read about a little boy named Digory, and a girl called Polly. She had heard those names before. Who were they? She realized with a shock that those were the first names of Professor Kirke and Miss Plummer. This was their story. She read about the Wood between the Worlds, and had a sudden, dreadful thought. She had been there alone, and had nearly gone to sleep. If not for the guinea pig, she might be there still. Susan shuddered and read on.

She read about Charn, and was horrified. She read about the Empress Jadis, and was frightened. She read about the creation of Narnia, and was thrilled. She discovered the origins of the lamp-post and the wardrobe.

When Susan had finished with the book, she started the next. The story was very familiar.

"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids..."

She read about Edmund and the White Witch and shivered. She read about the Stone Table and cried. She read about the years she had spent as a queen of Narnia, and what Aslan had told them at their coronation.

"Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen. Bear it well, Sons of Adam! Bear it well, Daughters of Eve!"

She had not borne it well; she had forgotten. And how could she be queen of a place that no longer existed? It existed in these books, though, so she continued to read.

When Susan finished each book, she set it down and picked up the next. She learned all the tales she had refused to listen to from Edmund and Lucy and Eustace. She read about the Dawn Treader, and the search for Prince Rilian, and then she opened the very last book.

"In the last days of Narnia, far up to the west beyond Lantern Waste and close beside the great waterfall, there lived an Ape..."

"And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Susan dropped the book, stunned. So that was what had happened to them all, and to Narnia. At that moment, she would have given absolutely anything to have been there.

Suddenly, her alarm clock rang. Susan suddenly realized that she had read all afternoon and all night, and now it was morning. She had no appointments today, so she would sleep. First, though, she would put away the books, and the magic rings. She placed them in a cardboard box, taped it closed, and wrote on the lid, "To my beloved grandchildren, Peter and Martha." Susan would give it to them next Christmas; they were sure to appreciate it.

Susan lifted the box to the top shelf of her closet, and then went to lie down. She fell asleep thinking of her brothers and sister, and her friends from Narnia.

She dreamed that she was following a huge, golden lion through a field of yellow oxeye daisies.

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Further Disclaimer: I don't even own all the writing. Huge portions of it are straight out of the Narnia books: practically everything in quotation marks.


	9. Home

Disclaimer: No. Susan. Is. Not. Mine. Clear enough? Never mind, you already know that.

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Note: Yellow oxeye daisies (see end of last chapter) are also known as black-eyed susans.

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Susan woke up, somewhat disoriented, in a bedroom that she did not recognize. She climbed out of the bed and went to look out of a lace-draped window. The view looked strangely familiar, but she just could not place it.

While Susan was staring out the window and wondering, she heard a door open. She turned around and saw a furry person with whiskers and a flat tail.

"Mrs. Beaver!" exclaimed Susan. "Where am I? Where did you come from? Am I still dreaming?"

"Oh, no, dearie," said Mrs. Beaver. "You are wider awake than you ever have been. You are at Cair Paravel."

"But it was in ruins."

"Not here. But there is no time to talk now. They are all waiting for you downstairs."

Dazed, Susan followed Mrs. Beaver through the door, downstairs, and out onto an impossibly green lawn. There were all sorts of people there. Susan recognized Tumnus the Faun, Reepicheep the Mouse, and many others. And there were her siblings.

"Susan!" cried Lucy, as she rushed to her and flung her arms around her neck. "I am so glad you've come!"

"But aren't you dead, Lucy?"

"Yes, of course," laughed Lucy, "But so are you, or you wouldn't be here."

"Welcome home, Susan," said Edmund quietly, but Susan could tell that he was no less delighted than Lucy.

"You haven't changed a bit, any of you," said Susan.

"And you have?" said Peter, sounding quite serious, although his eyes were twinkling.

"I am older and wiser," said Susan, just a little sadly.

"I've no doubt you're wiser, Su," said Peter, "But are you sure you're older?"

Susan was a bit confused, but then she realized that she was not, in fact, old. She pulled a strand of hair from behind her ear, and saw that it was no longer cut short and permed. The gray had darkened to black, and she must look just like she had during the Golden Age of Narnia. She had been too preoccupied to notice.

"Oh!" said Lucy suddenly, and her face lit up like a lantern. Susan followed her gaze.

And then she saw Aslan.

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...THE END

...or,

more appropriately,

THE BEGINNING

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fledge: I took some of your advice for the last chapter, and went back and deleted half of the quotes, probably before anyone else read it.

animegirl-mika: Yes, you guessed it.

Ozma: Well, it wasn't exactly the ending. And it turns out Susan wasn't exactly dreaming. I don't like sad endings, so... You got this chapter.


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